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Monday, January 1, 2018

I just finished breakfast while watching the January video presentation for Ali Edwards' One Little Word workshop. Last year's word - RISE - helped me survive, so I am counting on this year's word - WALK - to help me do just that and more.

I'll share more about my word as I share my approach to the workshop prompts. I believe sharing on my blog is going to keep me accountable for following through every month.

Another way that I have made myself more accountable is by creating a local group to work through the prompts with. I gifted the class to each of my sisters and my mom, then created a Facebook group for just us to share how we're doing. We have a wide variety of words and I'm the only scrapbooker (although each of my sisters and my mom are crazy creative in their own way), so our approaches will vary, too. While I love the workshop's Facebook group and message boards for sharing with everyone taking the class, I think having this small, more personal group will add a whole new layer to the experience.

In other news, baby girl is going to be early! She isn't due for a little over a month, but she needs to make her debut in two weeks if I want to avoid a C-section. I appreciate any prayers/good thoughts/good energy you could send my way.

Also, my Big Pictures Classes class - Decking Out Your Memorydex - is available today. Please head on over and enjoy the class. I would love to know what you think!

If you're unfamiliar with what a Memorydex is, think of the old fashioned Rolodex, re-imagined for memory keeping by the amazing Heidi Swapp. It's like a mini album, but instead of pages between a book cover or in an album, the pages spin around on a rotating spinner or flip back and forth in a tray. It's a really cool format for displaying and opens up a lot of possibilities for creating original pages and embellishing in unique ways.

I've shared several Memorydex projects over the past couple of years, but the project that I teach in this class is especially near and dear to my heart. I call it "Here and Now" and it's a collection of memories, photos and journaling from the past several months. I have a section for each of my children, including our little girl who is going to make her debut any time now. In fact, in some of the videos you'll see my baby bump intruding on my work table ;). My daughter, Addie, gets up at my desk any chance she can to flip through it - pointing out all her photos and laughing at her silly brothers' photos.

My class is composed of six lessons complete with six videos detailing how to create dozens of cards for your Memorydex. Technique-based, you can apply all the tutorials to any paper collection or theme you would like. So, if "Here and Now" isn't your speed, you can easily create within any other theme you can imagine while still applying all the techniques I teach you. Learn how to make unique card bases, be inspired to try materials other than cardstock, make your own embellishments, get tips for journaling (you know I'm big on words!), learn how to layer to create dimension, and discover things other than cards that can attach to your spinner or tray. There is SO MUCH content!

While we wait for the class to launch, I have an amazing giveaway happening on my Instagram account. Friends, I am so grateful to Heidi Swapp, her team, and American Crafts. They sponsored almost all of the product for my class and have generously donated two HUGE prizes! If you win, you and a friend would have almost all the product you need to complete the class project just as I do in the videos. Just look at all this great Memorydex and Magnolia Jane! Thank you so much, AC and Heidi!

Black Memorydex Spinner

12 x 12 Magnolia Jane Paper Pad

Memorydex Recipe Cards Set (110 tabbed and lined cards)

Magnolia Jane Washi Tape Set (8 rolls)

Memorydex Clear Tabbed Cards

Memorydex Tin Tabbed Cards

Memorydex Cards (18 lined, graph and ledger)

Heidi Swapp Acetate Words

Magnolia Jane Ephmera Pack

Magnolia Jane Clear Stickers

Heidi Swapp Stamps (12, mostly words)

Heidi Swapp Stamps (14, words and florals)

Magnolia Jane Binder Clips in a Floral Tin

Head over to Instagram and comment on my giveaway post by tagging a friend. Tag as many friends in new comments as you would like by December 31st, midnight Pacific time. I will draw and post the winner on January 1st. Because the giveaway is so generous (translate = a bit on the heavy side), I will need some help with postage to winners outside of the US. US winners, I've got you covered. Instagram is in no way sponsoring or involved with the giveaway.

Please head over to Big Picture Classes to read more about my class here. If you are new to Big Picture, you can start a trial membership here. After that, it's less than $10 a month for all the amazing content on their site. There are so many talented teachers and inspiring classes - I can't believe I'm included in such good company!

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Hello, friends! I'm excited to be on the Pebbles blog today, sharing Valentine's Day decor and cards with the new collection Forever Always.

First, I have to say how much I love that name. Forever Always. That's the best kind of love, isn't it? So of course I made Valentines for my kids, whom I will love forever and always no matter what.

I also made an X's and O's banner that I will stretch across my chalkboard in my livingroom.

I loved being able to use my trusty We R Memory Keepers tools to create this. The Banner Punch Board and the Alphabet Punch Board are the best! You can get all the details for making the cards and the banner at the Pebbles blog.

And you know what else is great? Being way ahead of the game holiday-wise. With baby coming in early February, I know I wouldn't have the time or energy to create for Valentine's Day post-Christmas. Now I'm ready :).

Hello, hello! If we aren't connected on Instagram or Facebook, you may just now be realizing that I kinda dropped off the face of the internet. At least, in terms of blogging. My last post was written right before the dreaded morning sickness began. I'm now 25 weeks along with my baby girl, and just getting back into the scrappy swing of things, including designing with fantastic Elle's Studio product again!

The October kit (and my scrappy hiatus) inspired me to get inky and painty on a page. The fall vibe of the kit led me to these photos from last autumn, and the leaves in the photos inspired me to use two add-ons: this stamp set and these wood veneer leaves.

I began by stamping leaves with versamark ink onto vellum. I embossed the leaves with white embossing powder. I think next time I will use clear, but I like how this turned out. Next, I watercolored the leaves in shades of yellow, gold and orange. When they dried, they crumpled up like real fallen leaves.

This stamp set inspired by title: "Every Day I Fall for You". I stamped the days of the week down the page, scattered my stamped leaves and included the wood veneer leaves. Some thread and paint splatters give it that windswept and boot-crinkled feel.

For this page, I was inspired by the gorgeous green in the kit. Even though this photo isn't the greatest, my little girl loves it and has been wanting me to scrapbook it for weeks. I printed it extra large and used patterned paper from the Family Fun collection to make the left border.

I clustered bits and pieces from the kit and add-ons on the right side of the page and added my journaling.

I hand-cut my title out of more Family Fun paper and used alpha stickers to complete the phrase. A little tab from the kit brings more green to the left side.

You may still be able to grab this kit and the fantastic extras at shopellesstudio.com.

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

I'm excited to share my latest TN with you today on the Elle's Studio blog. Elle's Studio has just released a mini album class called "Everyday Adventures", complete with a kit filled with fabulous product for making your own mini album. Inspired by the class, I was asked to put that kit to use on a mini album of my own and I chose to fill my jade Webster's Pages TN:

Every Mother's Day I try to get the kids together for a decent picture. The group photo doesn't usually turn out well, but I do manage to get pretty good selfies with each kiddo. I made the theme of my TN "Everyday Adventures in being Mom". The pages feature anecdotes of daily life, things I love about my kids, and quotes about motherhood. Each child has a few pages, and even though I have four, I didn't fill up a whole TN insert. I'm planning to save the other half for next year's Mother's Day selfies.

The kit is made up mostly of the new Live, Laugh, Love collection. 6x6 papers (great size for a TN), enamel dots, puffy stickers, wood veneer, bits and pieces (die-cuts), etc. The "Everyday Adventures" stamp set is probably my most favorite Elle's Studio stamp set to date!

There are also printable elements. I don't have a color printer at the moment, so I went to my local Staples and printed two copies of each sheet. I printed on nice copy paper so that the elements would stay as thin as possible. However, I didn't shy away from using the cardstock-weight labels and cut apart journaling spots.

I learned a good lesson as I was putting this together over several sittings. Because of all the small pieces, I was "losing" things under others and forgetting what I had to work with. So, I piled like items together in an arc around my desk space and was really disciplined about returning items back to their pile if I didn't use them. My productivity skyrocketed at that point ;).

Would you like to see more? I'm still finishing up several pages and plan to do a video flip-through very soon. I'll share more photos and a link here. In the meantime, I cannot recommend the "Everyday Adventures" class enough! Sign up here, and pick up the class kit here. You'll be so glad you did.

Friday, February 10, 2017

Hello, friends! Today is the day! The February Elle's Studio kit is available now and I finally get to share in full two projects that I made for the gallery.

"Love these Crazy Kids" - The first layout I made is this super colorful one. The mix of colors in this month's kit inspired me to get out my watercolors, which then inspired me to pull out my embroidery floss :). Using my Silhouette Cameo, I cut the word love repeatedly in a font with a very circular "o". I knew I wanted to fit one of the acrylic heart pieces inside and just my luck, my first attempt was the perfect size!

I loved the black and white 4x6 card (kit) featuring the word "love" in all these different fonts. It just called for watercolors! I tucked other 3x4 cards (kit) around my photos, too. I love a good set of alpha stickers, and these black ones were perfect for finishing my title.

I told you I am not much of a stamper, but I really enjoy using the little stamps Elle's Studio has to offer. The "What Happened" set was so easy to add to nooks and crannies of this layout for an extra special touch. I stamped in the tag up at the top as well as near my journaling on this page. And that speech bubble sticker? Love!

"XO Dance" - This layout is all about how much I love my job. Teaching dance really is the best :). I took a very different approach to color with this page and focused on gray, black and white elements from the kit with a pop of red.

For my background, I used the Jonah stamp to stamp "joy" in several places. I guess I'm on a kick of filling letter o's, because I used red embroidery floss to then stitch little hearts in each "o". I love the texture and bright pop of color!

The large "XO" acrylic pieces combined with the gray alpha stickers make up my title. I hope the acrylic trend sticks around for quite some time - I love how flat and yet dimensional it is on a layout. I added a die cut heart from the kit to the acrylic "o" for more color and some fun detail.

Speaking of little details, I stapled tags to the white space area in my photo, and popped one up on foam adhesive in another open space. Whenever I need a "little something", I know Elle's Studio can help me out.

I punched the gray striped hearts from patterned paper in the Little Moments collection, and I mounted my layout on another paper from that same collection.

If you aren't already a subscriber, I encourage you to check it out. I love this little box of happy that arrives every month! If you're trying to be smart about how you spend your paper crafting dollars, this is a great deal. The pieces are easy to mix and match with your other supplies (and the add-ons), and you get a lot of really useful pieces for just $9.99 (today only or with subscription - price goes to $11.99 tomorrow). You also get free (in the US) or reduced (international) shipping on any extras you add to your box.

Monday, January 16, 2017

Hello, hello! Today on the We R Memory Keepers blog I am sharing a planner project with the new Tab Punch Board. This tool can make file folders, dividers, and any other tabbed thing you can think of! I made dividers for my personal size planner:

You can read all about the papers, embellishments, and the washi tape pocket card on the WRMK blog. Here, we're going to get into how to make this fantastic tool work its magic on personal sized pages.

The Tab Punch Board has all the markings you need to make tabbed pages that measure in full inches. It's easy to follow, and all the thinking is done for you. However, personal size planner pages are 6.75 x 3.75 inches. That little quarter of an inch can throw off a series of tabbed pages, making them off center. That may still work for some, but the perfectionist in me can't have that ;). So, I experimented and came up with a "hack" for making the tool work for any size page.

Basically, I marked my tool with a Sharpie marker where the center of a small, medium and large tab would be in relation to the punch on the tool. Simply mark your paper (any size) where you want the center of a tab to be, and these marks allow you to line up properly. You have to do a little math to know where to put the marks on your paper, but it's not hard. In fact, I've already done the measurements for a personal size planner for you!

Just right click and save.

To see a tutorial for making a set of 5 dividers with small tabs, including how to set your tool up for the hack, check out my YouTube video here.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask! As I work in my other planners, I may update this post with charts for other sizes, but once you know the process, you can figure it out for any size paper - easy, peasy.

♥ About Me

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As a designer I am compensated in free product and in cash for my projects. All opinions and comments are my own. I also occasionally include affiliate links in my posts, on my sidebar, and on my "designing for" page. Feel free to email me with any questions.